Raindrops on maple leaves.
This is a filtered version of my DailyPhotos post for October 28, DP301-2013, which can be seen here: http://smu.gs/17ThdMU
Taken October 21, 2013 in the Waterloo Recreation Area. - arctangent

Despite signs in August of an early onset to fall, by mid-September relatively few trees, shrubs, and vines had begun their full transition to autumn colors. Those that had were pale and dull compared, say, with last year's spectacular colors. There has been a super-abundance of crab apple and hawthorn fruit, and of goldenrod of various species. But asters are less in evidence.
Note added in December: As the season developed it became quite remarkable for the brilliance of the colors in certain trees, shrubs, and vines, and for the length of time some of those colors persisted. Even the oak trees (some of them) were vivid. The lone exception was the ornamental pear trees. in 2012 those trees outdid themselves, but in 2013 they changed very late, well into November, and often were dull and brown, or even lost their leaves to hard frosts before they ever turned.
Note: Even though I've repeatedly told smugmug to sort this gallery by reverse order of date taken, it refuses to do so. Most captions, except those for pictures collected here from my DailyPhotos gallery, carry a coded date in the form of the day index (out of 365) and the year in the first line.